Blower wheel blade mounting means



Jan. 25, 1966 v. H. WILLIAMS 3,231,178

BLOWER WHEEL BLADE MOUNTING MEANS Filed Aug. *7, 1964 IFI I 4 HNVENTUR VERNUN H. WILLIAMS 'IEIY W a. M

ATT UTQNEY United States Patent 3 231 178 BLOWER WHEEL BIZADlE MOUNTING MEANS Vernon Harold Williams, Columbus, Ind, assignor to Vernco Corporation, Columbus, Ind, a corporation of Indiana Filed Aug. 7, 1964, Ser. No. 388,554 Claims. (Cl. 236-134) This invention relates to the mounting of individual blades between a ring and a back plate of a blower wheel. The blades are stamped or formed into individual blades each having opposite ends peculiarly formed.

These end formations of the blades facilitate the interconnection between the ring and the back plate of the wheel and by simple turning over of a narrow tab secures the blade in fixed, rigid position.

It is a primary object of the invention to provide a blade mounting requiring no soldering or brazing following assembly, no riveting, but only requiring a simple formation of the ring and the back plate to receive the blade ends.

These and many other objects of the invention will become apparent to those versed in the art in the following description of one particular form as now best known to me, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a fragmentary length of a ring of a blower wheel with a number of blades secured thereto;

FIG. 2 is a detail inside elevation on an enlarged scale of an end of a blade;

FIG. 3 is a view in perspective on an enlarged scale of a fragmentary circumferential length of a ring;

FIG. 4 is a view in top plan on an enlarged scale of the fragmentary length of a ring and a number of blades anchored thereto; and

FIG. 5 is a view in vertical section on the line 5-5 in FIG. 4. For the sake of clearness in understanding the invention, only the ring end portion of a blower wheel is illustrated since the back plate has an outer peripheral portion of exactly the same configuration, so that a description of the mounting of the end of a blade will suffice for the description of the opposite blade and mountmg.

Referring first to FIG. 2, a blade it! is provided with a post 11. The blade edge 12 will be an outside edge in reference to the wheel, and the edge 13 is an inner edge. The post 11 is adjacent the edge 12, and has a vertical edge 14, a straight edge 15 parallel with the top edge 16 of the blade 1d, and an inclined edge 17 sloping upwardly and outwardly from the edge 15 to the top end 15.

The edge 15 is substantially at right angles to the edge 12, and terminates at the end 13 of a tongue 19, the edge 26 at the top of a slot 21 entering between that edge and a secondary edge 22 of the blade 10, the secondary edge 22 being parallel with the edge 16. Preferably although not necessarily so, the corner of the blade 10 at the inner end adjacent the edge 13 is sloped as at 23 to facilitate entry under the ring generally designated by the numeral 24.

In FIG. 3 there is shown a short circumferential edge length of the ring 24. The outer circumferential edge of the ring 24 is designated by the numeral 25, and the inner edge is the numeral 26. The ring 24 is formed to have portions in two planes, namely the higher plane portion 27 and the lower plane portion 28. The two portions 27 and 28 are integrally united by a substantially vertically disposed web 2%.

The upper ring portion 27 is provided with a series of evenly spaced apart holes 31} therethrough adjacent the 7 outer edge 25. These holes 30 have a diameter which "ice will receive the post 11 therein with a snug fit. The length of the post 11 longitudinally of the blade iii is substantially equal to the thickness of the ring portion 27.

The web 29 is provided with the series of spaced apart vertically aligned slots 49.

The blades 10 are assembled with the ring and the back plate (not shown) in the following manner. A blade it is brought up to have its end line 16 passed under the ring portion 27 with the tab 19 passing through a slot at) and the post 11 snapping into a hole fill, the hole 30 and the slot being in radial alignment. The sloped edge 23 facilitates the moving of the blade lit under the portion 28. The slot 21 is of that type which will permit the tab 19 to pass over the top of the portion 22; and the edge 22 of the blade underneath that portion. Then the tab 19 is curled around into almost a semicircle as indicated in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5. The end of the tongue brought around to a butt, the web 29, to one side of the slot 40 through which the tongue has passed. Each suc ceeding blade is secured in position in the same manner. The sloped edge 17 of the post it facilitates the entry of the post 11 into its particular hole 39. There is sufficient elasticity in the metal or material of the portion 27 to permit the entry of the post 11 in that hole so that the under side of the portion 27 springs back into immediate contact with the surface 16 as above indicated. Since the vertical height of each slot ill is substantially equal to the vertical height of the tongue 19, and the surface 16 is abutting the under side of the ring portion 27 simultaneously with the edge 22 abutting the under side of the portion 28, there is no end play between the blade ill and the ring, or the blade with the plate at the other end of the blade. While I have herein shown and described my invention into one particular form it is obvious that structural changes may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I therefore do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond the limitations which may be imposed in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A blower wheel blade mounting structure comprising a wheel circumferential ring member stepped by a web interventing between an outer planar portion and an inner planar portion;

said ring outer portion having a series of holes therethrough evenly spaced around a common circumferential center line;

said web having a plurality of slots therethrough, each slot radially aligning with one of said holes;

a blade having end portions engaging said holes and slots;

one of said end portions consisting of a post entering into a hole;

a second end portion consisting of a tongue extending laterally of the blade along its end and entering the slot aligned with the hole receiving said post; and

said tongue being curled around to have an outer end abutting said web.

2. A blower wheel blade mounting structure comprising a wheel ring stepped by a web into two portions in parallel planes designated as outer and inner portions;

the outer portion having a plurality of holes therethrough, spaced apart circumferentially of the portion;

the web having a plurality of slots therethrough equal in number to the number of said holes and radially aligned therewith;

a plurality of blades, each having a stepped end to bear against the respective ring stepped portions;

a post projecting from the blade end and entering one of said holes;

3 4 a tongue extending laterally of the blade end and 9888- said post has an edge removed from the tongue side ing throngh a Web slot; and parallel to a blade edge, and the opposite edge ina laterally turned end on said tongue engaging the clined from its tongue presented side, the base of the outer side of said web. post fitting snugly in said hole. 3. The structure of claim 2, in Which 5 said tongue is spaced from its blade end portion under References Cited by the Examiner said ring inner portion a distance substance equal to UNITED STATES PATENTS the thickness of that rim inner ortion said ton ue end bearing on the outer side of said ring OljtCl' 243I648 11/1947 Mayne 230*1345 .yortion 2,441,121 5/1948 Nygren 230134.48 1 10 2,457,265 12/1948 Nygren 230134.48

4. The structure of claim 2, in which said post has a Width adjacent the blade and substan- .1

tially equal to the diameter of each of said holes. SAMUEL LEVINE Primary Examiner 5. The structure of claim 4, in which H. F. RADUAZO, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A BLOWER WHEEL BLADE MOUNTING STRUCTURE COMPRISING A WHEEL CIRCUMFERENTIAL RING MEMBER STEPPED BY A WEB INTERVENTING BETWEEN AN OUTER PLANAR PORTION AND AN INNER PLANAR PORTION; SAID RING OUTER PORTION HAVING A SERIES OF HOLES THERETHROUGH EVENLY SPACED AROUND A COMMON CIRCUMFERENTIAL CENTER LINE; SAID WEB HAVING A PLURALITY OF SLOTS THERETHROUGH, EACH SLOT RADIALLY ALIGNING WITH ONE OF SAID HOLES; A BLADE HAVING END PORTIONS ENGAGING SAID HOLES AND SLOTS; ONE OF SAID END PORTIONS CONSISTING OF A POST ENTERING INTO A HOLE; A SECOND END PORTION CONSISTING OF A TONGUE EXTENDING LATERALLY OF THE BLADE ALONG ITS END AND ENTERING THE SLOT ALIGNED WITH THE HOLE RECEIVING SAID POST; AND SAID TONGUE BEING CURLED AROUND TO HAVE AN OUTER END ABUTTING SAID WEB. 